Whats a Toyota Yaris like then?
Discussion
Ok, I've been offered a car. Its a great deal. In budget, low insurance costs as its only a 1.0 
, full Toyota service history, 2 years old and only 10,000 miles.
Yeh, its a Toyota Yaris Blue. To be honest it sounds very boring to me, with a max speed on 96mph (not that I'd be doing more than that of course 
). It ticks all the boxes for a first car, but it just sounds so boring. So what do they drive like? Are they fun? Am I asking too much for it to be reasonably fun around country roads?
, full Toyota service history, 2 years old and only 10,000 miles. Yeh, its a Toyota Yaris Blue. To be honest it sounds very boring to me, with a max speed on 96mph
(not that I'd be doing more than that of course ). It ticks all the boxes for a first car, but it just sounds so boring. So what do they drive like? Are they fun? Am I asking too much for it to be reasonably fun around country roads?I had a quick go in a Tsport one and it was pretty good.
Handled quite nicely for a small car.
Should definately be fun around windy roads even with the 1.0 engine.
If your after low insurance then your not going to get anything particually exciting. If the price is right then you could do allot worse.
Handled quite nicely for a small car.
Should definately be fun around windy roads even with the 1.0 engine.
If your after low insurance then your not going to get anything particually exciting. If the price is right then you could do allot worse.
Sounds like a sensible choice mate. I had an old Renault 5 and then an old Polo, both of which ended up costing about 4 times their value in repairs over the years that I had them.
If you can get something very reliable like a Yaris as a first car, then your spare cash can be saved to pay for the next thing once you've got some NCB built up, rather than constantly paying for repairs on your existing car.
I drove a Yaris a couple of years ago (it was a "filler" on a Toyota on track day when they launched the last MR2) and it seemed like a compentent runabout!
I know that's a boring sensible answer, but you don't want anything too bonkers as a first car anyway. Much better to explore the limits of handling (away from public roads of course) in something that's not going to kill you if it all goes wrong!
If you can get something very reliable like a Yaris as a first car, then your spare cash can be saved to pay for the next thing once you've got some NCB built up, rather than constantly paying for repairs on your existing car.
I drove a Yaris a couple of years ago (it was a "filler" on a Toyota on track day when they launched the last MR2) and it seemed like a compentent runabout!
I know that's a boring sensible answer, but you don't want anything too bonkers as a first car anyway. Much better to explore the limits of handling (away from public roads of course) in something that's not going to kill you if it all goes wrong!
BalhamLotus said:
Sounds like a sensible choice mate. I had an old Renault 5 and then an old Polo, both of which ended up costing about 4 times their value in repairs over the years that I had them.
If you can get something very reliable like a Yaris as a first car, then your spare cash can be saved to pay for the next thing once you've got some NCB built up, rather than constantly paying for repairs on your existing car.
I drove a Yaris a couple of years ago (it was a "filler" on a Toyota on track day when they launched the last MR2) and it seemed like a compentent runabout!
I know that's a boring sensible answer, but you don't want anything too bonkers as a first car anyway. Much better to explore the limits of handling (away from public roads of course) in something that's not going to kill you if it all goes wrong!
Excuse the threadjack - where in Balham are you then?
I may well be a little biased on this 
but I say go for it.
There are a couple of things wich may not appeal to you. The digital dash (as already mentionned) isn't to everyones taste. It was rare (possibly unique) when the car was launched and I thought it was a bit of a gimmick but you soon get used to it. Lots of other manufacturers have followed suit since.
The other thing which takes a bit of time is the the driving position. The seat is set high up and when you are tall (I'm 6'3) this feels a little bit unnatural. This feeling is compounded by the lack of a central instrument binnacle which give you the impression that you are too close to the front of the car. To be honest its still a little bit odd to get into the car on a Monday morning after a weekend in the Tiv, and I've owned it for almost 5 years now.
Aside from that they really are a great car to own and run. They can be a little noisy on the motorway as they are geared low to provide 'nippyness' and 80mph in 5th for more than an hour can be a little tiresome as the engine revs at around 4500rpm at that speed.
Have you driven the car yet? Try not to think of it as 'only' a 1 litre engine. As other owners of Toyotas on the board will probably testify, the vvti system makes a big difference to performance. I have driven other small engines superminis and the Yaris is just as quick as a 1.2 clio although falls short of the outgoing Fiesta 1.25 zetec. I think you'll be pleasantly suprised. The standard kerbweight is less than a tonne (960kg I think) so it's not heavy by any stretch.
Handling can be best described as interestingly understeery. Try too hard on a roundabout and you will break it when you hit the kurb, simple as that, it is only designed to be a supermini after all, its not a Clio 182. However, once you get used to this, it is possible to press on at a respectable pace by maintaining momentum and using the high set driving position to your advantage. The height of the car does make it a a bit wobbly if you get hit by a motorway crosswind but most of the time it feels pretty well planted.
Servicing bits and pieces are cheap but Toyota dealers are notoriously expensive. I was quoted £130 for a brake fluid change once. Little jobs like this can be easily done on the driveway though and if you really want the Toyota stamps, shell out once a year. Insurance is very low (I pay <£300 now but even when I first got the car at 19 with 0 NCB it was only about £700 fully comprehensive which is pretty good.
I realise I've been waffling for ages now so if you like, drop me a mail if you have any questions....
>> Edited by dougc on Tuesday 23 May 12:01
but I say go for it. There are a couple of things wich may not appeal to you. The digital dash (as already mentionned) isn't to everyones taste. It was rare (possibly unique) when the car was launched and I thought it was a bit of a gimmick but you soon get used to it. Lots of other manufacturers have followed suit since.
The other thing which takes a bit of time is the the driving position. The seat is set high up and when you are tall (I'm 6'3) this feels a little bit unnatural. This feeling is compounded by the lack of a central instrument binnacle which give you the impression that you are too close to the front of the car. To be honest its still a little bit odd to get into the car on a Monday morning after a weekend in the Tiv, and I've owned it for almost 5 years now.
Aside from that they really are a great car to own and run. They can be a little noisy on the motorway as they are geared low to provide 'nippyness' and 80mph in 5th for more than an hour can be a little tiresome as the engine revs at around 4500rpm at that speed.
Have you driven the car yet? Try not to think of it as 'only' a 1 litre engine. As other owners of Toyotas on the board will probably testify, the vvti system makes a big difference to performance. I have driven other small engines superminis and the Yaris is just as quick as a 1.2 clio although falls short of the outgoing Fiesta 1.25 zetec. I think you'll be pleasantly suprised. The standard kerbweight is less than a tonne (960kg I think) so it's not heavy by any stretch.
Handling can be best described as interestingly understeery. Try too hard on a roundabout and you will break it when you hit the kurb, simple as that, it is only designed to be a supermini after all, its not a Clio 182. However, once you get used to this, it is possible to press on at a respectable pace by maintaining momentum and using the high set driving position to your advantage. The height of the car does make it a a bit wobbly if you get hit by a motorway crosswind but most of the time it feels pretty well planted.
Servicing bits and pieces are cheap but Toyota dealers are notoriously expensive. I was quoted £130 for a brake fluid change once. Little jobs like this can be easily done on the driveway though and if you really want the Toyota stamps, shell out once a year. Insurance is very low (I pay <£300 now but even when I first got the car at 19 with 0 NCB it was only about £700 fully comprehensive which is pretty good.
I realise I've been waffling for ages now so if you like, drop me a mail if you have any questions....
>> Edited by dougc on Tuesday 23 May 12:01
GingerNinja said:
Excuse the threadjack - where in Balham are you then?
Nothing personal Ginger, but despite the GPS tracker and the fully comp insurance, I'm not about to post the location of my pride and joy on a public internet forum!!!! ;-)
I'm close enough to the Jackdaw/Firefly/BKB/Bedford/Tup to be able to find my way home with my eyes shut, and regularly do.
Yaris's are fine as A-B cars, but the base models don't pretend to be super sports. The 1.0 needs to be spun up if you want to get going - you can feel the variable valve come in at around 3.5k. Easy to drive around town with very light steering.
Solid as a rock reliability wise and I suppose the instrument panel is a personal preference thing.
Compared to a Clio it feels better built.
Solid as a rock reliability wise and I suppose the instrument panel is a personal preference thing.
Compared to a Clio it feels better built.
Actually it does sound a bit Zanussi-like above 5000rpm.... I was insured through Elephant to start off with. Give Tesco a try too as they are supposed to be good for new drivers. Try all the usual stuff too - no mods, put your parents on the policy, park on the drive/garage and not on the street etc - oh yeah, and get a job - my premium went down by £30 when I finished Uni.
Good luck
head over to www.toyotaownersclub.co.uk/forums for an opposite biased viewpoint...
in a nutshell, sure it wont set your world alight, but it'll start first time everytime, never let you down, never lose bits of trim randomly and be pretty cheap to run...
in a nutshell, sure it wont set your world alight, but it'll start first time everytime, never let you down, never lose bits of trim randomly and be pretty cheap to run...
BG, care to explain? Yes its not exactly fast, but people keep telling me to get a small engined first car.
And the only reason I'm really looking at it is that on a forecourt it would be about £6500-£7000, and I could get it for £3000-£3500...sell it in a years time and I could make a profit. I sound like Sayed off the Apprentice
And the only reason I'm really looking at it is that on a forecourt it would be about £6500-£7000, and I could get it for £3000-£3500...sell it in a years time and I could make a profit. I sound like Sayed off the Apprentice
Essentially a car like a Yaris is a white good. It is there to do a job and it does it very well, day in day out, without complaining and with very little fuss. It doesn't pretend to be anything other than a small car for getting places cheaply and reliably. Doesn't stop you acting like a bit of a hooligan when conditions allow though. It's just a bit of a muted and relatively slow hooligan thats all
I get it 
White good, no soul etc?
Other problem is, although its a bit of a girly car to begin with, its this light blue:
Might be needing some very dark tints on the windows then, or wear my full face helmet
I know fiesta's etc are good apparently, but the only reason I'm looking at this is because its practically half price. And a reasonable car to build up a years NCB. And offers like this dont come along often...
White good, no soul etc? Other problem is, although its a bit of a girly car to begin with, its this light blue:
Might be needing some very dark tints on the windows then, or wear my full face helmet
I know fiesta's etc are good apparently, but the only reason I'm looking at this is because its practically half price. And a reasonable car to build up a years NCB. And offers like this dont come along often...I have a Yaris Blue. I acquired it because the deal was too good to pass up. The car was £9.3k new (it had some extras) it was 8 months old with 1,300 miles and I paid £5k. The build quality is excellent but then that's what Toyota is renowned for. I quite like the dash, something a bit different and dare I say 'cool'. The only way to know is to drive it and see how it feels to you. You will find the clutch very light and the engine has very little torque at low revs so until you get the hang of it you may well stall a few times. This happened to me at first but once you get used to it, no problem.
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